Valley of the Kings, Hatshepsut Temple & Colossi of Memnon Tour

Your private Egyptologist collects you from your Luxor hotel or Nile cruise and crosses to the West Bank, where the pharaohs of the 18th to 20th dynasties were buried in tombs cut deep into the Theban hills. Your standard ticket includes three tombs, chosen from those open that day, and your guide explains the painted texts on their walls, such as the Book of the Dead and the Amduat, which describe the king's night journey through the underworld. The tombs of Tutankhamun and Seti I can be added with separate tickets. Phone photography is allowed in most tombs.

A short drive brings you to Deir el-Bahari, where the mortuary temple of Hatshepsut rises in three broad terraces against a sheer limestone cliff. Hatshepsut was one of the few women to rule Egypt as pharaoh, and her reign is recorded here in fine reliefs, including the trading expedition to the Land of Punt with its ships, incense trees and exotic animals. Your guide points out where later kings tried to erase her name and image, and the upper terrace gives wide views across the Nile valley towards Luxor.

On the way back, stop at the Colossi of Memnon, two seated statues of Amenhotep III about 18 metres tall that once guarded the entrance to his vast mortuary temple. Greek and Roman travellers came here to hear the northern statue "sing" at dawn, a sound probably caused by the cracked stone warming in the sun. After a short photo stop, you are driven back across the river to your hotel, usually by early afternoon, avoiding the worst of the midday heat.